News & Updates

Fairmount Forum a Great Success

Nov 19, 2012

Over 250 residents of the Fairmount Indigo Corridor joined the BRA, the City of Boston, the Metropolitan Area Planning Council, and the consultants, Cecil Group and Shook Kelley, in the first community forum of the BRA's largest planning study, the Fairmount Indigo Planning Initiative (FIPI). The 9 mile Corridor runs from South Station through Dorchester, Roxbury, Mattapan to Hyde Park. The FIPI is focused on building the neighborhoods by connecting them to economic opportunities, jobs, transit, and housing. The Forum was held Saturday at the Salvation Army's Kroc Center. Attendees met the BRA's Chief Planner, Kairos Shen, Fairmount Corridor BRA Planners, Ines Palmarin, Jeremy Rosenberger, and consultants, Steve Cecil, Terry Shook, and Josh Fiala. The purpose of the planning session was for residents to share their ideas. Residents were asked to write down their thoughts while taking a Google Earth tour through 10 existing or future MBTA Stations: Newmarket, Upham's Corner, Columbia Road, Four Corners/Geneva Avenue, Talbot Avenue, Morton Street, Blue Hill Avenue, River Street, Fairmount, and Readville. The residents discussed six themes in breakout sessions: attracting jobs and businesses, building housing, connections to parks and public space, types of land use, transit needs, and quality of life issues. Before the Forum concluded, the most popular responses were presented in word clouds, and the next steps were discussed. The BRA seeks residents along the Corridor to answer questions central to the process: What defines the Corridor? What is it all about? What are common issues along the Corridor? How can we strengthen and spread the qualities and opportunities throughout the entire Corridor? What holds the Corridor together? What connects its residents? What needs to be fixed? What is great about the Corridor?Six #FIPIFacts presented at the Forum:

20% of Bostonians live along the Corridor.

Nearly 25% of the Corridor's residents are under 18 years of age, and 20% are between 20-34 years of age.

66% of the Corridor's residents were born outside of the U.S.

$139 million has been invested in 6 MBTA Stations along the Corridor. Two more stations are under construction, another is being designed, and 2 more stations have been proposed.

55% of the Corridor's residents commute to work by car, and 33% commute by public transportation.

The nation's 8th most diverse neighborhood, Dorchester, is along the Corridor.